Device for lighting gas by electricity



(No Model.)

F. H. ROOT.

DEVICE FOR LIGHTING GAS BY ELEGTRIUITY.

No. 325,569. Patented Sept. 1, 1885.

N. PETERS Pfinwwgraphor. Walhington. O. C-

Wimesses:

FFICE.

PATENT FRANCIS H. ROOT, OF HYDE PARK, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR LIGHTING GAS BY ELECTRICITY.

SPECIFICATION forming; part of Letters Patent No. 325,569, dated September 1, 1885.

Application filed December 27, 1884. (No modcL) T0 aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. Boer, of Hyde Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Gas-Lighting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

In the various systems heretofore employed for lighting gas by an electric spark the electric generators or batteries and the sparkcoils have been located at some distance remote from each other or from the burner, and the current has been conducted by lines of wire carried over the walls of the room or building and along the gasfixtures to the burner. This system and arrangement of apparatus has been found seriously defective, uncertain, and expensive, both in its orignal cost and in the cost of maintenance. The wires, if exposed to view, are unsightly, and if concealed require that the plastering, wood work, and interior decorations be marred and disfigured, and also render the wires-difficult of access for repairs or breaks in the insulation or in the continuity of the circuit. The resistance offered by a long wire reduces the effective strength of the current, depletes the battery, and necessitates the employment of a spark-coil of great resistance, and numerous battery elements connected for both quantity and strength of current.

The object of my invention is to provide a device which may be attached immediately to any gas-fixture, and which will be compactly arranged and inclosed in a case within the most limited compass, to be complete in itself and require no further adjustment after it is applied to the fixture, and which may be op crated in the act of turning on the gas at the burner, and also to provide means for preventing the contact-points of the gas-lighting device from being accidentally left to close the circuit of the battery; to which ends my invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is aside elevation of a gas fixture and burner with my improved devices applied thereto and shown in vertical sectiomwith the contact- ]ever shown by dotted lines in its secondary position; Fig. 2, a plan view, partly in section, of the battery, spark-coil, and easing, the cover of which is partly broken away;

and Fig. 3, a transverse sectional view through the cock of the burner on the line or m of Fig. 1.

A gas-fixture or bracket-arm, A, is provided with an upturned projection, screwthreaded externally to fit snugly into an internally-screw-threaded socket, 1), formed upon the under side of the bottom plate, B, of the battery and spark-coil easing B. The capplate B of said casing is formed with a hub projection, b, upon its upper side, and is screw-threaded externally to receive a burner, G, of ordinary construction.

The casing B is firmly held respectively at its upper and lower edges in channels formed in the cap-plate B and bottom plate, B of said casing to fit closely around the sparkcoil D. The core E of the sparkcoil incloses the battery-jar F, and extends from the capplate B to the bottom plate, B of the casing, and is firmly secured to said plates by screws 2) 12 which pass through said plates into the ends of the core. The battery-jar is formed with channels ff, upon opposite sides thereof, through one of which, f, passes a rod, G, for operating the lighting and extinguishing fixtures upon the burner, and the other'of said channels, f, admits of the passage of a small metal tube, H, around the battery, said tube serving to connect the passage, through the end projection, a, of the gas-fixture, with the passage through the hub b of the casing to the burner. I

The burner C may be of any well-known or preferred form, and in it a conical-shaped stop-cock, 0, is fitted. A lever, I, is secured to the stem of the stop-cock O, and projects upwardly alongside of the burner, and is provided at its upper end with a platinum-wire contactpoint, i, which is caused to swing by or across a fixed contact-point, 76', by the oscillation of the lever. The contact-point k is secured to the upper end of the burner by a sleeve or collar, K, held fast to the upper end of the burner and insulated therefrom. The sleeve K is connected with one of the poles of the battery by means of an insulated wire, which passes through a hole in the cap of the casing and through a similar hole in the cover of the battery-jar. The other pole of the battery is connected by an insulated wire, which also passes through theholc above referred to in the cover of. the battery-jar, with one end of the spark-coil D, and the other end of the sparkcoil is metallically connected with the capplate B, burner G, and lever I, thence to the swinging contact-pointi, which closes and completes the circuit through the contact-poi nt 70, above described, when said contact-points are brought together.-

The lever I is L-shaped, and its short arm I is slotted to receive the end of the weighted rod G, which passes through the spark-coil casing and through the channel f of the battery, and is held and guided thereby to be reciprocated vertically andoscillate the lever I in a simple, positive, and effective manner. The elbow I of the'lever I is disk-shaped, and is formed with two notches m m, in its peripheral edge, to be engaged by the inwardlyturned free end 711. of a springcatch secured by a screw, m, to the body of the burner, and is also cut out at m to receive a stud, m projecting from the burner, which serves to limit the movement of the lever in both directions.

The cam-notches m m are V-shaped, and are in such close relation to each other that the correspondingly V shaped cam m of the spring catch will wedge itself firmly into either one or the other of said notches and hold the swinging lever I at the end of its movement in one or the other direction when not otherwise acted upon by the rod G. By this means the contact points secured, respectively, to the lever and to the tip of the burner are prevented from being closed when the lever is at rest, to thereby complete the circuit and exhaust the battery. By the abovedescribed means the closed circuit will be of such short duration that the battery will not polariz'e, and the gas can only escape from the burner while being lighted and when turned full on.

The operation of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing description. When the rod G is pulled down, the lcverI is placed in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, which operates the cock 0 to turn on the gas, and at the same inoment makes and breaks contact between the platinum points t k to make the spark and light the gas.

A battery consisting of a solution of salammoniae, zinc, and chloride of silver is preferabl y employed, as it has been found to give good results, and may be reduced to the minimum size; but I do not confine myself to this specific form of battery.

The battery and spark-coil are compactly arranged and inclosed within a casing, to which the burner is secured, and the connections are all made between the contact-points, coil, and battery to form a complete spark-lighting attachment adapted to be applied to anyfixture without further adjustment.

I am aware that a spark-coil has been in closed in a casing secured to the burner and gas-fixture and connected with a battery arranged at a distance remote therefrom; and I am also aware that gas-lighting devices have been heretofore employed wherein a galvanic battery supporting a gas-burner has been applied directly to the-gas-fixture and the gas ignited by incandescently heating a portion of the conductor connecting the poles of the battery, and therefore do not claim such combination, broadly. The essential feature of my invention is the novel arrangement within a casing to which the burner is attached of both a spark-coil and battery, as described, to be connected in circuit with movable contactpoints for effecting the ignition of the gas-by means of a spark, to be together attachable to and detachable from a gasfixture.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An electric generator for gas-lighters, consisting of a spark-coil arranged to encircle a galvanic battery and connected in circuit therewith, substantially as described.

2. In an electric gas-lighter, the combination, with the spark-coil provided with-means for attachment to the burner and fixtures, of

a battery inclosed by and connected in circuit with the spark-coil, substantially as described.

3. A gas-fixture connected with a burner and provided with a casi ng, such as described, combined with a spark-coil and battery inclosed one within the other, both inclosed by and within the said casing and connected in circuit with the circuit-breaker of agas-lighting device, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the battery with the battery-casing, the burner, the contact-points in circuit with the battery, the swinging arm carrying one of said contact-points, and a pullbararranged to pass through the battery-casing and connected with the swinging arm, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the burner with the fixed and swinging electrodes connected in circuit, the stop-cock, the electrodelever secured to the stop-cock to oscillate therewith, provided with camnotches m m, extending to and terminating in a common ridge, and a spring-catch, m adapted to seat itself in one or the other of said cam-notches when the le- FRANCIS H. ROOT.

\Vitnesses;

E. G. SIGGERS, TIIEO. MUNGEN, \V. N. MooRn. 

